Editors interview: 'We were close to splitting up'

For the first time in the band's career, things soured when guitarist Chris Urbanowicz left the group he'd been in for ten years.

Out of the struggle, though, Editors have come out stronger - armed with a bigger lineup (Justin Lockey on guitars, Elliott Williams on synth) and their fourth studio record The Weight of Your Love.

Digital Spy sat down with frontman Tom Smith and guitarist Justin to talk about the past, present and future…

Hi guys, welcome back! Your new album feels like a return to Editors' earlier rock sound - was this the intention?Tom: "We picked up the guitars again. I guess that's the most striking similarity as our third record had barely any guitars on it. Having said that, the way Chris played guitar on the first two records, he almost had a signature sound. What he played was such an enormous part of what Editors were and what people liked about the band. And that's gone. We have a new guitarist now who plays guitar differently. So there are guitars again, but they don't sound much like they do on the first two records. We wanted to make a more rock-oriented record."

Can I ask you about Chris's departure?Tom: "No… yes, course you can!"

Hehe. What happened?Tom: "It's a blurry answer because it wasn't an overnight thing. We finished touring the third record about 2010, then we started working on the songs I was writing for record four. As the songs started to come together, the idea was to go in with Flood (producer) and make the next record. We wanted to keep the momentum going. The first sessions, we thought the songs were good but the versions not quite good enough… We had a big session with Flood and it really wasn't good enough. For the first time in our career, we'd not got those buzzing feelings. You think, 'Why? What's the problem? Is it Flood? Is it us? Is it the songs?'

"It wasn't Flood, he's one of the greatest producers of all time. And I still think now, the songs were good enough. I just think we reached the point as four people where we were no longer functioning towards the same point - we couldn't agree on what was the best way to take the songs… Then it got really dark. Communication just stopped. No-one fought, there were no blows, but there were times in rehearsal when it was just Russell and Ed with a laptop with my voice on. It was pretty dark stuff. And me, Ed and Russell decided we couldn't go on with Chris anymore. It was really hard."

Did you ever consider splitting up?Tom: "That thought was as close as it had ever been and it had crossed my mind. It's complicated, isn't it? You have relationships with people and it's what we've been doing for so long. It would have been such an enormous thing for me to say, 'Right guys, this is it. I'm taking my songs elsewhere'. I didn't want Editors to stop. None of us did. [The split] never got too close but it was as close as it had been. But we believed in the songs and each other too much to do that."

It's been four years since your last album - were you ever worried the music spectrum would lose interest in Editors?Tom: "That's only really a worry in this country. [Music] is such a fast-moving thing here. We did very well in mainland Europe, and the fact we'd been away for four years - yes, it's a long time, but our standing hasn't slipped. We're still a big band there because they're not so bothered about what's new."Justin: "It's a different culture there, it's usually picked up where it's left off. Here, the culture is so, 'Hot new band! Hot new band!' and the worst thing is nobody ever gets to do a second record so you're just listening to everybody's first record. It's just a bit throwaway and disposable over here."Tom: "Our worries were tempered by the fact we know in Europe that's not the case. We also understand that in the UK, we've taken a few steps down. And that's cool, it's different here."

Tom, your voice is more distinct and vivid than ever on this album - what led to that?Tom: "I guess there's a slight more comfort in being 'the singer'. I wasn't afraid to go for a song entirely in falsetto, that's the most striking difference on the record. Musically, it's shifted slightly so maybe [my voice] sits in a different place. The last two records were very dense and thick, and this record was about simplifying it. So I guess the voice is more in your face because of the way we approached the songs as well."

'A Ton of Love' is a great, strapping comeback single - did you always plan to return with this song?Justin: "It's a short, snappy, loud, straight tune. It seemed the most obvious when we recorded it but it's not that representative of the whole record."Tom: "Yeah, it's quite a varied record. ['A Ton of Love'] has a confidence and a swagger to it. It certainly doesn't sound like many things on the radio anymore. Musically, it's quite old-fashioned."Justin: "You can try and shoehorn your music into the times we live in, but I think you can always tell when bands do that and it usually falls off the radar pretty quickly afterwards. We're a band on their fourth record - there's not that many British bands who even get to that point. When we were recording it, there was no thought about how it was going to do."

My favorite off the new album is 'What Is This Thing Called Love', which is probably one of the darkest songs you've ever done...Tom: "It's a sad song, it's a break-up song. I haven't gone through a break-up anytime recently, but I don't really adhere to the idea that you have to be in a bad mood to write a sad song. The tortured artist thing I think generally is nonsense - there are very few examples of that when the art is any good, at least! I obviously like writing about things that are darker than what's in or anywhere near the charts. I just try to find interesting ways about writing around the topic [of love]. They're the most straightforward lyrics I've ever written."

'Formaldehyde' is another stomper. Justin, your guitars on it are very prominent - is this where you really got to shine?Justin: "I guess so. It's quite stripped-down and tangy. The thing about that song, I like that it's quite restrained and intelligent… It's strange making this record from a guitar standpoint, knowing what has gone before it in the first two records especially. I wasn't scared but I knew I didn't need to fall into the trap of 'How to write an Editors record'."Tom: "There are certain things from our early period that we've definitely got rid of and that's gone now."Justin: "With me and Elliott coming in, there was a lot of 'Where do we fit in and what is the overall sound?' But at the end of the day, Tom's voice is booming down the middle. It's still Editors, it's just an evolution."

Yeah, it's still very much an Editors record. Birmingham, your 'unofficial home', has sparked off a good few new bands recently…Tom: "B-Town! We're the Godfathers of B-Town."

Haha. Does it make you feel old?Tom: "I don't need that to make me feel old! But yeah, I'm very fond of the place and it's brilliant. We had Swim Deep on a show with us and they're really good, and I've heard a few Peace things and it sounds good. Good luck to them all. They all look a bit grunge as well."

They look very '90s.Tom: "Yeah. You could lazily say we were doing the '80s thing, so…"Justin: "We picked the wrong decade!"

How has it been adjusting to being a five-piece? Do the older tracks sound that much bigger on tour?Tom: "Having an extra pair of hands doesn't necessarily make things louder. There's a slight shift in the way the guitars sound. To us, they feel reinvigorated. It will be interesting to see the way people take to it. I feel confident about it but it's gonna be funny when we tour the UK. You get pretty close to seeing everyone there. [The fans] are used to seeing Chris!"Justin: "When the stab vest goes on and the bulletproof glass front goes up, I'll be fine! No, I don't think it sounds that much different, to be honest."Tom: "I didn't really give a s**t if he could play 'Bullets' perfectly or not. It was about moving somewhere new creatively. It'll be interesting… But it would be nice if Justin isn't walking off in tears every night."Justin: "They can't get past the beard, man."

Lastly, what is the plan now for Editors? Have your ambitions altered with this album and the band changes?Tom: "We're ambitious, striving for music that can move people emotionally and physically. But what we are now, in what is essentially a new band, it feels like we're at the beginning of something. Somebody mentioned to me they thought that the bands with longevity - you can look back at their records and divide them in threes. If that's true - I don't have much evidence to support that theory - but if that's true, we're beginning a new chapter and that feels really exciting. I'm excited about where we're gonna take the next record, but there's no masterplan. I don't know where we'll be this time next year, but nobody does, do they?"